Folsom Street Fair emphasizes consent in advance of 2018 event

Men flag on stage during the 2017 Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco.

Photo: Mason Trinca / Special to The Chronicle

In advance of Sunday’s Folsom Street Fair, organizers are reminding attendees about the importance of consent.

“Gear is not consent. Nudity is not consent. Ask first before photographing or touching someone. No means no,” read fliers created for the alternative sexuality fair. The new fliers have been shared on the Folsom Street Fair’s official social media channels and will be posted at the entrances to the fair, says Patrick Finger, executive director of Folsom Street Events, which oversees the annual event and July’s Up Your Alley festival in Dore Alley.

“It’s something that we’ve always been passionate about,” says Finger. “But it seemed like in the past few years, we’ve had to step it up.”

Even though this is the first Folsom Street Fair following the #MeToo and “Time’s Up” anti-harassment movements, Finger says that current events were not a direct factor in this year’s new focus on consent.

“We had heard complaints from the community that they were being touched without consent,” says Finger. “We had a couple incidents last year where fair-goers complained about this and believed we had to make this a public statement.”

The fliers created for the 2018 Folsom Street Fair.

Photo: Folsom Street Fair

Last year, there was an assault reported at the fair that involved the arrest of a man, Finger says. He describes the incident as “beyond touching.”

If attendees have issues with personal safety at Folsom, volunteers in marked orange security vests are on hand for people to report incidents.

Regarding photography, Finger acknowledges that legally, photography on a public street or event cannot be restricted.

“People have a right to take photos on a public street and that right is protected by the First Amendment,” says Alicia Calzada, the deputy general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association. “There is generally nothing wrong with requesting that photographers ask permission before taking photos but it is not enforceable.”

Calzada also calls it “disturbing” the way that the flyer seemingly equates photography with assault. “I fear that this will misinform the public and make people think that photography is illegal when it is not,” she says.

Finger says that when it comes to the photography, the flier is an effort to establish best practices and be respectful. “It doesn’t say you can’t photograph people, it just says ask first,” says Finger of the fliers. In 2016, Folsom began a campaign to request that fairgoers “ask first” before photographing people. “We’re not telling someone not to do something.”

Finger says that showing an attendee out of the fair for repeatedly taking photos without a person’s consent would be a “last resort.”

In addition to responding to complaints from fair goers, Finger says that Folsom’s board of directors also wanted to keep pace with other leather and fetish events that were placing a renewed emphasis around discussions of consent.

“We were also seeing other events starting to do similar campaigns like Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend (in Washington, D.C) and International Mr. Leather (in Chicago),” says Finger. “We knew they were doing their own signage and campaigns, it seemed like all the major events launched campaigns.

Finger says that even though mainstream culture is having a renewed discussion around the topic of what constitutes consent, it’s an issue that’s a perennial topic in the fetish and leather community.

“We always address issues of consent,” says Finger. “It’s not just something (you ask) before you strike someone with a flogger, you should not just be touching someone because they’re dressed provocatively or naked. There’s a lot of nudity at our fair, it’s 2018 and this should not be a surprise to anyone.”

Tony Bravo is a Style reporter and frequent contributor to Datebook and Green State. He writes Style’s Connectivity column and is the primary stylist for the section’s Bay Area fashion shoots. Bravo has been the New York Fashion Week correspondent since 2013 and specializes in stories about the cultural impact of clothing. He is an adjunct instructor at the City College of San Francisco Fashion Department and a fourth-generation San Franciscan.